


You Me and the Glass Between

by Amarilly (Tookbaggins)



Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Gen, Light Angst, OG game fic, platonic, some drinking but no drunkeness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-09
Updated: 2020-11-09
Packaged: 2021-03-09 03:21:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,467
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27464119
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tookbaggins/pseuds/Amarilly
Summary: A soft breeze followed them through town as Tifa headed toward where the cobblestones abruptly turned to dirt, then soft grass. She kept going, Barret following her and dutifully keeping an eye out for danger. He was relieved when she stopped, the lights of Kalm only a couple hundred yards away. “What’re we doing out here?”“I thought it would be better,” she said, her voice barely more than a whisper in the night air. “There’s more sky.”
Relationships: Tifa Lockhart & Barret Wallace
Comments: 2
Kudos: 4





	You Me and the Glass Between

**Author's Note:**

> I feel like there would have been a lot of mixed feelings for the team after Holy. And a lot of exhaustion.

Kalm was too quiet for Barret’s tastes. Maybe that was where the town had gotten its name, a small place nestled among the wide plains and far removed from the chaos of Midgar. He could see it, a dark, smoky smudge on the horizon. Was it this quiet there? Had Meteor silenced the people clinging to their way of life around the plate? He supposed it must have. Wouldn’t Kalm be more crowded if people had taken refuge there? A few new faces had greeted him that day but not nearly enough. A sigh dropped his shoulders. 

They hadn’t made it. Not really. 

It was too late for that. Marlene had clung to him in the days after they arrived and now sleep had loosened her small grip on him. He needed to clear his head, get some air, something. He wouldn’t get it standing here staring at the ruins in the distance. He turned away, his gaze falling to the cobbled street beneath him. The way to the bar was easy and familiar. He passed no one as he followed his feet and swung the door open with his left hand. 

Some of the locals were there, grouped at tables around the room. There was laughter but the feeling of the place was subdued. Everyone had seen what had happened. No one quite knew how to process it. He supposed they had the same idea he had: a few drinks to help with sleep until morning brought a clearer view. His eyes searched out the empty barstools and he felt his frown deepen at the figure he saw there. Tifa had both elbows on the bar, cradling her chin in her hands. One foot swung slowly as she locked her eyes on the radio against the wall. Some sad song was warbling slowly out of it. Was she even hearing it?

Barret was used to his large frame and didn’t give squeezing onto the stool next to her a second thought. He didn’t miss the way she slowly pulled her gaze toward him. There were four shots in front of her. Her eyes were bright. 

“Hey.” She smiled faintly, crossing her arms on the counter. 

“Going at it pretty hard tonight?” He lifted an eyebrow and rapped his gun against the edge of the counter, pulling her attention to the line of glasses. Color bloomed in her cheeks and her arms tightened. 

“No no. Those… just one is mine.” She fell quiet, her voice so dejected that Barret didn’t have the heart to push the question. He waved down the bartender and ordered a beer. For a long moment there was a heavy silence between them. The radio had changed to another, sadder song, and Barret found himself humming clumsily along with it. Tifa lifted her head. “They’d hate to see what happened. Biggs, Jesse, and Wedge.” Barret eyed the extra shots again, piecing their purpose together. Leave it to Tifa to want to include the whole team. 

“Hell… I know. We did our best. Can’t do nothing better than that.”

“Barret. Midgar is-“

“I know,” he stopped her. They’d both seen it. “We did our best, Tifa.” He set his bottle down to reach across and pat her on top of the head. She hunched her shoulders a little, her eyes shining with withheld tears. “They’d hate to see it but… I think they’d be happy too.”

“Happy… there are a lot of places left, aren’t there?” She looked up at him; a glimmer of light creeping back into her eyes. “Rocket Town, Wutai… Junon, too. Even if we couldn’t save Midgar we saved a lot of people.”

“Yeah. We did, huh?” A smile pulls at his mouth. Tifa was always the optimistic one. She was the cheer when they’d falter along their way and he didn’t like to see her hurting. She had every reason to be, he wasn’t selfish enough to not see that, but misery just felt wrong on her. “Jessie would tell us to leave the mopin’ for tomorrow.”

Tifa brightened a little more, reaching out to trace her danger against the side of one of the shots. Barret wondered if it was Jessie’s. “Wedge would say we’ll feel better after a good meal. He was usually right.”

“Biggs would buy us all a round.” Barret chuckled, the sound feeling warm and deep in his chest. It felt good. “Then probably another.”

“No no, he’d buy one and then beg me for the next one. He’d have drunk me out of business!” Tifa picked up her shot and drained it. “Aerith would… “ she paused thoughtfully. “Aerith would have had fun. I think she and Jessie would have got along well.”

“That girl coulda made friends with a Weapon if she wanted.” Barret leaves in to look at the line of shots. “You didn’t get her one?” 

Tifa flushed a little, her fingers moving to tangle into the long bangs next to her cheek. “Ah… I wasn’t sure if she would’ve wanted one. We never drank with her.”

“Oh yeah.” They both frowned at the drinks. Suddenly it felt like something was missing. Barret lifted his eyes to the bottles behind the bar, looking for something light that would’ve got her tastes. “Maybe cider? I think she prolly woulda tried it, at least.”

“That’s a great idea!” Tifa straightened and flagged the bartender down to order the drink, as well as another shot for herself. She downed what was left. When the new drinks arrived she carefully picked up the bottle and set it with the other three drinks. “I was thinking before you came in about what it would be like to have them all here. A lot like how it was at Seventh Heaven, I think.”

“It was like home for all of us.” He finished his bottle and pushed it away. “Even with everything goin’ on, we had good times together.”

“We did.” Tifa put away her second shot and hopped up from her stool. “Well. If you’re done let’s pour them out.” He raised an eyebrow at her but she only smiled and picked up one of the shots and Aerith’s cider before turning away. It took a little maneuvering but Barret picked up the other two and followed her back out into the warm night air.

A soft breeze followed them through town as Tifa headed toward where the cobblestones abruptly turned to dirt, then soft grass. She kept going, Barret following her and dutifully keeping an eye out for danger. He was relieved when she stopped, the lights of Kalm only a couple hundred yards away. “What’re we doing out here?”

“I thought it would be better. There’s more sky.” Tifa lifted her head, her eyes searching the stars above them. Barret followed her gaze, his friends’ faces rising in his mind. They were part of the planet now, could they still see the sky? We’re they still… them? He cleared his throat. That wasn’t a road he wanted his thoughts to go down. Tifa shifted as if coming out of her own thoughts and stepped back to stand beside him. Her eyes found his and she broke into a familiar, soft smile as she raised the shot glass. “This one is for Wedge. For all the places he didn’t get to see, and all the times he reminded us that we were a family.” She closed her eyes, nodded to herself, and threw the liquor across the grass in front of them. 

They were toasting the dead. Barret had heard of the custom but never known any people who actually did it. He raised a glass and cleared his throat. “Jesse. Cause she was a helluva woman and the bravest of any of us.” He let it spread across the grass. Tifa nodded encouragingly and Barret raised the last glass. “And Biggs. We gave ‘em hell for you.” The third shot was gone. 

Tifa sighed heavily, her hand wringing the cider bottle. She thought for a long moment, then raised it and looked up at the stars. “This one… this is for Aerith. We loved her. And… we felt her with us every step of the way.” She poured the cider out slowly as they both watched. It was a strange way to come to terms with everything that had happened, to finally let themselves think that it was all over. 

It felt like goodbye. 

As the last drops fell Barret clapped Tifa’s tiny shoulder. His eyes were burning slightly, and had tears come he wouldn’t have hidden them from her. But his exhaustion was too much for the sorrows that had settled into him like they were part of him. Tifa’s hand covered his and silently they turned together. It was time for rest.


End file.
